PBS doc ‘The March’ details the build up to history

A new PBS documentary reveals the details of what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. described would be considered the “greatest demonstration for freedom” in American history.

Narrated by Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington, The Marchdedicates the majority of the 55 minute running time to the build-up of the momentous event.

Some 250,000 people gathered in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963, to raise awareness of the poor economic realities of African-Americans and to demand the passage of strong civil rights legislation.

Clayborne Carson, a professor of history at Stanford University, was just 19 when he attended the march.

“Every time I think back, I draw different meanings from it because of my subsequent experiences,” Carson told theGrio.com. “At the time I would not have fully understood the significance of what Dr. King’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech.”

Carson, whose commentary is featured in The March, is also the director of Stanford’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. He says America does not have a good track record when it comes to understanding what King stood for.

“The main thing we’ve gotten right is that he deserves a national holiday,” Carson said. “He was the most prominent figure in one of the most important movements in American history.”

But Carson, who traveled from Indianapolis by bus to attend the march, said aspects of King’s speech and overall vision remain largely misunderstood by the general public.

“What [Dr. King] said is that this country was conceived in this ideal of universal human rights, ” Carson said. “But we haven’t lived up to that ideal. And that’s not a message that many Americans, even now, want to hear.”

Carson, along with other scholars and march attendees provide sharp commentary for the PBS doc. The March also includes interviews with organizers such as Joyce Ladner.

Ladner was 19 and entering her senior year at Tougaloo College in 1963.